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Left anti-semitism

Author:

Sean Matgamna

Michael Banda (Michael van den Poorten), who died recently, had for nearly three decades been a retired political gangster.

For much of the previous three decades he had been an all-too-active political gangster, as one of the two or three central leaders of the Healy organisation known variously as the Newsletter group, the Socialist Labour League, and the Workers’ Revolutionary Party.

He was known in the organisation during the 1950s and early 60s as “Mike the Knife”, after he pulled a knife on a man who had grabbed Gerry Healy by the coat collar in a factional row.

Michael Banda (Michael van den Poorten), who died recently, had for nearly three decades been a retired political gangster.

At the time of the last Moscow trial I remarked in one of my statements that Stalin, in the struggle with the Opposition, exploited the anti-Semitic tendencies in the country. On this subject I received a series of letters and questions which were, by and large – there is no reason to hide the truth – very naive. “How can one accuse the Soviet Union of anti-Semitism?” “If the USSR is an anti-Semitic country, is there anything left at all?” That was the dominant note of these letters.

The October Revolution abolished the outlawed status of the Jews. That, however, does not at all mean that with one blow it swept out Anti-Semitism. Trotsky on Stalinist ("Thermidorian") Anti-Semitism.

To see the conflict between Palestinians and Jews as entirely the fault of the Jews is nonsensical. It betrays a bias which means that you don’t really think about the issues. You demonise the Jews. You become a species of anti-semite.

Cliff first appeared in the international Trotskyist press in 1938-9 as “L Rock”: the rock would grow into a cliff. He contributed to a discussion on Palestine in the American Trotskyist publication New International. He was obviously a young man trying to think things through. It was an inconclusive discussion, but in 1938-9 he was in favour of the right of Jewish migration. He would criticise himself on that much later, in an interview in the SWP magazine in 1987.

Publications:

At a recent debate at Oxford University, George Galloway asked his opponent “Are you Israeli? I don’t debate with Israelis” before exiting the debating chamber reiterating: “I don’t recognise Israel and I don’t debate with Israelis.”

When I first entered politics, I used to respect George Galloway, he was one of few prominent politicians with a viewpoint that seemed to resonate with my own.

I liked the way he could run rings around ignorant TV presenters; his eloquent and devastating oratory gave comfort to me that my anti-Iraq-war feelings weren’t either as isolated, or as naive as every analyst made them out to be.

Publications:

The slogan From the river to the sea realistically can mean only one thing: the expulsion of the Jews from Palestine.

At first glance, who could oppose the Palestine Solidarity Campaign? The very name implies one of the most noble human aspirations — solidarity with a people. And in particular a people like the Palestinians, whose suffering is genuine.

No doubt many people who join the PSC, attend its demonstrations, donate money to it or encourage their unions to back it are expressing their support for the idea of solidarity with the Palestinians.

But there’s a difference — a huge one — between showing solidarity with the Palestinians and supporting the PSC.